Love, Loss, and the Dangers of Time Travel
by missmissa85
Summary: Trip Tucker has horrible nightmares, and his son, Charles, needs to know why. Will his godfather, Jonathan Archer, tell him the truth? An AU future fic Trip/T'Pol and Archer/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Love, Loss, and the Dangers of Time Travel**

**A Star Trek: Enterprise Fanfic**

**By Missmissa85**

A/N: I despise the series finale with every fiber of my being. So this is my answer to it. Which pushes this story into the realms of AU, however, we are talking about Star Trek. Anything's possible.

Ghostly images danced across his mind. His mother and father looked at him disparagingly. Then Captain Jeffries. And then Captain Archer. Then Hoshi, Travis, Malcolm, and even Phlox. And then T'Pol. Lastly his own son stared at him, his face full of disappointment. Trip cried out as his son turned away from him.

Only semi-conscious, he heaved the contents of his stomach onto the floor next to the bed. He clawed madly at the covers trying to escape, but a firm hand on his shoulder held him back. He looked up and saw Charles, his son, standing in the doorway watching him with wide eyes.

"Calm yourself," his wife whispered evenly, yet firmly.

Trip began muttering incoherently. He seemed to be begging his son's forgiveness. Charles fearfully took a step back from the doorway. A small child's cries suddenly resounded through the house.

"Charles, go see to your sister," his mother told him.

"But, Mother -"

"Go." The volume of her voice had not raised a single decibel, but the firmness of her tone sent Charles' feet padding down the hall.

T'Pol came around the bed and grabbed Trip by the shoulders and sat him up. His breathing was irregular and he was still muttering. T'Pol put a hand firmly on each side of his face and made him look at her. He gasped in shock, but he seemed to return to his senses.

T'Pol relaxed her hands as every muscle in trip's body loosened. She continued to watch him closely as he breathed deeply for the next few moments.

"I'm sorry," he whispered finally.

T'Pol looked into the hall. T'Mir's crying had finally stopped. "Your…behavior is affecting the children. Perhaps we should tell them the whole story."

Trip was quiet. He placed a hand on her swollen belly and said, "I think we should name him Jonathan, or at least make it his middle name."

"Trip," she said, firmness giving way to anger.

He reluctantly looked up at her. "We can't tell them. T'Mir wouldn't understand and Charles -"

"Charles needs to know," T'Pol insisted evenly.

Trip angrily threw the covers aside and pushed past T'Pol. "I'll get something to clean up the mess," he muttered as he walked into stomped into their bathroom.

Jonathan Archer groaned as the first rays of sun hit his face. I couldn't be morning, all evidence to the contrary.

He sat bolt upright as heavy pounding resounded through the apartment. Someone was at the door. He tossed off the covers and grabbed a shirt from the nearby chair.

"Hang on a minute!" he shouted as he hastily pulled the shirt on over his head.

He opened the door to find no one standing in the hall, until he looked down. Charles Tucker IV looked up at him.

Stunned he said, "How the hell did you get here?"

Charles ducked under Jonathan's raised arm and entered the apartment. Jonathan closed the door and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I stowed away on the late transport," Charles answered without one hint of guilt.

Jonathan folded his arms across his chest. "Would you mind telling me _why_ you're here?" he asked hotly.

"I want to know why my father has nightmares," Charles stated simply.

Jonathan suddenly became quite uncomfortable. He uncrossed his arms and walked quickly into his kitchen. "I need some coffee," he said in a strained voice.

Charles rushed after him. "I know you know, Uncle Jonathan. Do not try to hide the truth from me. I am old enough to hear it," he insisted in a very un-Vulcan fashion.

Jonathan smiled as he put a cup under the drink dispenser. "You're just like your mother, you know," he told the boy as coffee filled the cup.

Charles raised his already slanted eyebrow. More calmly, he said, "Please, Uncle Jonathan. I can feel how troubled my father is. I have felt it my entire life. I need to know why."

Jonathan took a loud slurp from his coffee cup. "The simple version is that a woman from the future transported your father away and created a duplicate the moment he terminally injured himself and saved him using technology from the future. She then replaced his corpse with the man she saved, the man you know as your father."

Charles' eyes widened with the sudden influx of information. "I don't understand," he said. "Who was this woman? Why did she choose to save Father?"

Jonathan clicked his tongue. "I was afraid you were going to say that. Look, it's a long story, Charles, and I have a meeting with Starfleet Command at 10 o'clock."

Charles followed his godfather into the bedroom. "It is only oh-five-thirty," he informed the captain. "I believe four and a half hours is more than sufficient time to prepare yourself for your meeting and to…fill in the details."

Jonathan paused in the doorway and turned around. "It's kind of…complicated," he told his godson.

The slightest hint of a smile crossed Charles' lips. "I'm sure I can follow along."


	2. Chapter 2

Jonathan leaned back and closed his eyes. He never thought he'd feel this way, but it was nice to be away from _Enterprise_ and the captain's chair. He thought T'Pol might threaten him with a phase pistol when he suggested he take the shuttlepod on the mission alone. So he decided to take Trip along instead. Malcolm and Travis were in the other shuttlepod a couple of lightyears away. They were testing a new ship-to-ship subspace communication system. It was boring work. Jonathan was fairly sure Starfleet was just keeping them busy until the first warp seven vessel was rolled out and ships like _Enterprise_ became obsolete.

"You awake, Cap'n?" Trip asked.

Jonathan opened his eyes and looked at his friend. "Mostly," he answered slyly. "Anything happen yet?"

"Nope. We still have a few minutes, though," Trip assured him. "_Enterprise_ is probably not in position yet."

Jonathan closed his eyes again. "That's nice," he mused.

"You know, Captain," Trip began brightly, "you could actually take a vacation instead of sleeping on duty."

Jonathan looked at his friend through one barely open eye. "Shut up, Commander," he ordered.

Trip smiled mischievously. He busied himself making minor adjustments in the attitude until the red indicator started flashing. He activated the comm. "This is Shuttlepod One, go ahead."

"This is _Enterprise_," T'Pol's deep, even voice responded. "We have lost contact with Shuttlepod Two."

Jonathan stirred and sat up. "Well, I guess this comm system isn't all it's cracked up to be," he said.

"It may have also been improperly installed," T'Pol's voice responded.

"Hey," Trip protested playfully.

"It is a logical conclusion," T'Pol answered evenly. "The installation of Shuttlepod Two's communication system took place before the installations of-"

"We get the idea, T'Pol," Jonathan interrupted. "Go pick Malcolm and Travis up and then come back here for us. We'll try another test tomorrow."

"Understood, Captain. _Enterprise _out."

Trip grinned. "You sent her after Malcolm and Travis so you could get some more shut eye, didn't ya?"

"That's the general idea," Jonathan said as he closed his eyes and leaned back.

Trip smiled to himself. He fingered the controls without really touching them, and sighed as he let his mind dip into his well of memories.

"You miss her, don't you?"

"Huh?" Trip asked, turning around to face his captain.

"T'Pol," Jonathan clarified, "you miss her."

Trip forced a laugh. "I see her everyday."

Jonathan sat up and pushed his chair forward so he would be eye level with his friend. "That doesn't mean you don't miss her. You miss..._being_ with her."

Trip laughed uncomfortably and tried to focus on the sensor readouts. "Since when did you take up psychology?"

"Trip, you've been through a lot together."

"I've been through a lot with Malcolm, your point?"

"You've never had a child with Malcolm."

Trip's stomach tightened. He looked at his captain, who was staring him down, albeit compassionately. "I never really had a child with T'Pol."

"Yeah, you did," Jonathan answered.

Tears welled in Trip's eyes. "Sometimes, I wish she had lived. I wish I'd gotten to see her grow up. But then I think about how much you needed both me and T'Pol during the war with the Romulans. We couldn't have had Elizabeth aboard the ship. She would have been in too much danger. Maybe it's better that she..."

As his friend's voice trailed off, Jonathan reassuringly placed a hand on his shoulder. Trip smiled and nodded his thanks.

An alarm resounded throughout the vessel.

"Isn't that the collision alert?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah," Trip answered, looking frantically over the console's readouts, "but there's nothing--"

The shuttlepod rocked violently sending Jonathan sprawling on the floor. Trip watched open-mouthed as a somehow familiar, yet completely unknown vessel swept across space hurtling down to the uninhabited moon beneath them.

"Where the hell did that thing come from?" Jonathan asked, standing up.

"I'm not really sure," Trip answered as he reviewed the sensor logs. "Oh, my God."

"What is it?"

"The ship's transmitting an identifying beacon."

"And?"

"Well, look at it."

Jonathan regarded the readout and understood Trip's surprise completely. It was a Starfleet ship, representing the United Federation of Planets. Not only did the ship not resemble any ship design he had ever seen, the United Federation of Planets didn't exist, yet.

"We have to help them," Jonathan announced.

"What?"

"Trip, they're crashing, they obviously didn't mean to wind up here," Jonathan explained. "If anyone's left alive, we can help them. Maybe we can even help them get back to their own time."

"Yeah, I suppose you've got Agent Daniels' number stashed in an address book somewhere?"

Jonathan glared at him. "Are you gonna take us down there, or am I?"

"Fine, I'm going!"

Jonathan started coughing as soon as he opened the shuttlepod door. The air was heavy and putrid. "What is that?" he asked, gagging.

"High sulfer content in the air," Trip answered, handing him a filtration mask. "This place is still forming."

The other craft was only a few meters away. "Come on, let's go!"

They jogged across the rough terrain squinting their eyes to diminish the stinging effects of the air. The other vessel's hatch had fallen off at some point during their descent.

"Someone must have gotten control before they crashed," Jonathan said. "I think this thing could still be flyable."

"Cap'n," Trip called, his voice uncertain, "I think these are warp nacelles."

"What?" Jonathan asked as he joined his staring friend toward the rear of the vessel.

"These are warp nacelles," Trip insisted.

"On a ship this size?" Jonathan asked, incredulous. The small vessel was only about three times the size of a standard shuttlepod.

Trip shrugged. "I don't understand it either, Cap'n."

"How far in the future did they come from?" Jonathan muttered as he stepped into the ship.

Lights flickered on and off uncertainly and sparks flew out from the consoles. A young man lay dead at his feet. Another figure slumped over a console at the front of the cockpit.

"Oh, my God, that's a transporter, I'm sure of it," Trip said, examining the interior. "Who would have thought; warp engines and a transporter on a ship like this."

Jonathan wasn't really listening. The figure was female, and she was still breathing. Jonathan gently pushed her long, honey-colored hair out of her face. She was human and in her mid-thirties. She wore black pants and a jacket over a maroon under-shirt with a high collar. Jonathan regarded the four golden circles on her collar with curiosity. As he ran a finger over them, the woman woke with a start. She had beautiful gray eyes that were presently filled with fear. She cried out and pushed him away.

"It's okay. It's okay. We're here to help you," Jonathan said, grabbing her arms to keep her from striking him. When she started breathing more normally, he said, "What's your name?"

"I'm-I'm Captain Derika Andrews of the _U.S.S. McAuliffe_," she answered laboriously. "And who the hell are you?"

The combativeness of her question obviously took Jonathan aback. Trip just chuckled. "You're probably scarin' her with that mask, Cap'n."

Jonathan looked back at Derika and pulled off the mask. "I'm Captain Jonathan Archer of the starship _Enterprise_."

Derika's face went from a look of trepidation to one of utter terror. "No," she gasped before passing out and landing in Jonathan's arms.

Trip sniggered. "I always knew you had a way with women."

Jonathan shot him a dirty look and opened his mouth to reply, but his communicator beeping cut him off.

"Archer," he said as he flipped open the device.

"Captain, you were not at the rendezvous coordinates," T'Pol's voice told him.

"I know there was a little bit of an accident," he answered, looking at the woman in his arms.

"Are Commander Tucker and yourself unharmed," T'Pol asked, the slightest note of urgency slipping into her voice.

"Yeah, we're both fine," Jonathan answered. "We weren't involved in the accident. Commander Tucker's gonna take Shuttlepod One up to meet you," he nodded at Trip, who immediately headed out of the ship, "but I think you're going to have to beam me and this survivor up and have Phlox standing by. She's in pretty bad shape."

"Understood," T'Pol answered. "Stand by."

Jonathan held Derika close as the heat of the transporter beam enveloped them.


End file.
